Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX testified before members of Congress Tuesday about his harrowing experience during a hostage standoff last month.
“I welcomed a terrorist into my congregation,” Cytron-Walker said. “I live with that responsibility.”
Cytron-Walker told lawmakers he let the stranger into the synagogue and served him tea one Saturday morning last month.
“I spent time to see if there were any red flags,” Cytron-Walker said. “I didn’t see any. Of course, I was wrong.”
That man ended up taking the rabbi and three others hostage at gunpoint.
Cytron-Walker said security training from the FBI, local police and other agencies months earlier helped give them the tools to keep them safe.
The hostages eventually made it to safety, while the gunman was killed.
“Despite all the plans and funding and courses, I still opened the door,” Cytron-Walker said. “But because of all the plans and funding and courses, and literally dozens of small things that just happened to go our way, we were able to escape.”
Cytron-Walker urged Congress to invest more in security training for congregations around the country as the threat to Jewish-American communities is growing.
According to the American Jewish Committee (AJC), a global Jewish advocacy group, one in four Jewish-Americans said they had been a victim of antisemitism in the last year.
Lawmakers heard about a violent Neo-Nazi demonstration in Central Florida last month when a Jewish man was attacked and robbed.
“Just two weeks ago, Neo-Nazis in Orlando displayed flags, Nazi paraphernalia, attacked a motorist, and used pepper spray on people,” Rabbi Yosef Konikov of Chabad of South Orlando said.
Konikov also told lawmakers about a flier distributed in his community blaming Jewish people for COVID-19.
Cytron-Walker called for more investment in the Nonprofit Security Grant Program which helps nonprofits, including religious organizations, enhance their physical security and be better prepared for a potential attack.
“Every congregation needs to be prepared yet the gap between the need and funding is profound,” Cytron-Walker said. “All houses of worship need protection.”
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